1833 - Patent for reaper was given to Obed Hussy of Maryland.
1879 - Inventor Thomas Edison first publicly demonstrated his electric incandescent light in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

Edison's lamp was the first practical design of electric bulb. He found a suitable carbonized filament that lasts longer time. He created a good vacuum in the globe or bulb. His design included the socket mount - the Edison screw base which is still in use.

1951 - A battery that can convert radioactive energy to electricity was announced.
1964 - Donald Cambell established a new water speed record in a speed boat - 276.33 mph (441.71 km/h)
1968 - The Russian Tupolev TU-144 prototype 00-1 became the first supersonic-capable airliner to fly when it made its first 37-min flight at Zhukovski, USSR, with test pilot Captain E.V. Elyan at the controls (Concorde did it later).
1976 - Harry Garland and Roger Melen, two roommates at Stanford University, form CROMEMCO, a pioneer company to manufacture microprocessor-based computers.

Birthdays

1514 - Andreas Vesalius - (University teacher of Anatomy - He personally conducted number of dead human body dissections. His book on anatomy of 1543 is a major improvement over the 2nd century's Galen's anatomy. He can be said to be part of modern medicine development pioneers.

Asa Griggs Candler (December 30, 1851 – March 12, 1929) became an American business tycoon by making a fortune by selling Coca-Cola.

Candler was born on December 30, 1851 in Villa Rica, Georgia. He started career as a drugstore clerk and became a manufacturer of patent medicines. In 1888 he bought the formula for Coca-Cola from its inventor John Pemberton and several other shareholders for $550. He aggressively made marketing investments in the drink, and the success of Coca-Cola was largely due to Candler's aggressive marketing of the product. Candler earned millions of dollars from the profits of Coca-Cola company. He went into more businesses to establish the Central Bank and Trust Corp., and real estate properties. He also became a major philanthropist for the Methodist Church. He gave an $1 million plus land gift to Methodist college, for moving it from Oxford, Georgia, to Atlanta. It became Emory University and his younger brother, Methodist Bishop Warren Akin Candler, became president of Emory. Candler also gave millions to Emory Hospital. He also donated the land for Candler Park.

In 1906 he constructed Atlanta's then-tallest building, the Candler Building, In 1912 the Candler Building in New York came up. He went into politics and was elected mayor of Atlanta in 1916 (taking office in 1917) Candler suffered a stroke in 1926 and died on March 12, 1929.

Growth of Coca Cola

On May 1, 1889, Asa Candler published a full-page advertisement in The Atlanta Journal, proclaiming his wholesale and retail drug business as "sole proprietors of Coca-Cola ... Delicious. Refreshing. Exhilarating. Invigorating.". Sole ownership was achieved by Mr. Candler only in 1891 at a total cost of $2,300.

By 1892, Mr. Candler's flair for merchandising had boosted sales of Coca-Cola syrup nearly tenfold. He converted his sole proprietorship into a corporation. With his brother, John S. Candler, John Pemberton's former partner Frank Robinson and two other associates, Mr. Candler formed a Georgia corporation named The Coca-Cola Company with initial capitalization of $100,000.

The trademark " Coca-Cola ," used in the marketplace since 1886, was registered in the United States Patent Office on January 31, 1893. In 1893, the first dividend was paid; at $20 per share, amounting to 20 percent of the book value of a share of stock.

The business grew, and in 1894, the first syrup manufacturing plant outside Atlanta was opened in Dallas, Texas. Others were opened in Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California, the following year.

In 1895, three years after The Coca-Cola Company's incorporation, Mr. Candler could proudly announce in that " Coca-Cola is now drunk in every state and territory in the United States."

In 1894, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Joseph A. Biedenharn who was selling Coca-Cola through soda fountain installed bottling machinery in the rear of his store and began to sell cases of Coca-Cola to farms and lumber camps up and down the Mississippi River. Thus he became the first bottler of Coca-Cola .
In 1899, Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead of Chattanooga, Tennessee, secured from Mr. Candler the exclusive rights to bottle and sell Coca-Cola in practically the entire United States. With contract in hand, they joined another Chattanoogan, John T. Lupton, and began to develop the Coca-Cola bottling system in USA

The first bottling plant under the new contract was opened in Chattanooga in 1899, the second in Atlanta the following year. To build bottling operations nationwide, Messrs. Thomas, Whitehead and Lupton contracted with competent individuals to establish Coca-Cola bottling operations within certain defined geographic areas. Over the next 20 years, the number of plants grew from two to more than 1,000 -- 95 percent of them locally owned and operated. As the business grew, the development of high-speed bottling machinery also occurred and efficient transportation was developed. Today, the Coca-Cola bottling system is one of the largest, most widespread production and distribution networks in the world.

The bottlers of Coca-Cola in the early 1900s had their share of challenges. Probably the most persistent and serious was protecting the product and the package from imitation. Early advertising focused on persuading consumers to buy the original Coca-Cola. "Demand the genuine" and "Accept no substitutes" reminded consumers to settle for nothing less than the real thing.

The never-ending battle against substitution was the major force behind the evolution of the distinctive hobble-skirt bottle. After using variety of straight-sided containers, Coca-Cola got a distinctive package in 1916. The unique contour bottle was designed by the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Charles Albert Coffin (31 December 1844 - 14 July 1926) was the cofounder and first President of General Electric corporation (President 1892-1912, Chairman 1913-1922).He was born in Fairfield, Somerset County, Maine. He moved to join his uncle Charles E. Coffin at his shoe company in Lynn, Massachusetts at the age 18, where he spent the next twenty years and established his own shoe factory named Coffin and Clough in Lynn.

In 1883, another Lynn businessman, Silas A. Barton wanted Coffin to start an electric company based on an existing firm from New Britain, Connecticut, finance it and to lead it.In partnership with an engineer, Elihu Thomson, Coffin renamed the company to Thomson-Houston and made it a strong competitor to Thomas Edison's companies. The company further set up power plants in the South, including two in Atlanta, Georgia to run the electric lights and electric streetcar lines.

General Electric was formed from Thomson-Houston and Edison's companies and Coffin was its first chief executive officer. The company was tested quickly during the Panic of 1893, but Coffin negotiated with New York banks to advance money in exchange for GE-owned utility stocks. In 1901 he established a research laboratory for the company, the first industrial research lab in the US.He supported the work of GE engineers in the adaptation and development of the Curtis steam turbine which greatly advanced electric power generation. He retired from the board in 1922. He had large amount of GE stock and at the time of his death in 1926, he was one of the wealthiest men in the world.

Electrical manufacturing was Coffin's second career after his successes in shoe manufacturing. In 1883,
Silas A. Barton, a Lynn businessman, proposed bringing to the city the struggling young American Electric Co. of New Britain, Connecticut, whose major asset was the inventive genius of Elihu Thomson. A businessman was needed to supplement Thomson's technical skills. Coffin was prevailed upon to take the post. He led the new company, Thomson-Houston. Negotiations in 1892 led to the formation of General Electric, and Coffin became its first chief executive officer.

Coffin was remembered by his associates as a gracious gentleman and delightful companion. He never ordered any of them to do anything, preferring to rely on his powers of suggestion. He also graciously sought and welcomed suggestions from those around him and then only made decisions on key questions.
Customers and competitors knew him as both the outstanding statesman and the outstanding salesman of the electrical manufacturing industry. He took a personal interest in major negotiations, often writing business proposals to important customers in his own hand. At tense meetings, he knew how to relieve the pressure with an appropriate anecdote, and how to add the key words to bring matters to a successful conclusion.
His arranging of finance during the crisis year of 1893, saved the company and made possible its rapid recovery and growth during the remainder of his tenure. He left the company in a strong and wide-ranging excellent condition and gave the charge to Owen D. Young.

1886 - Patent was granted for a dish washer that was commercially successful (No. 355,139). The recipient was Josephine Garis Cochrane.

1895 - The brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière presented their motion-picture films in their first public performance, at the Salon Indien of the Grand Café, 14 Boulevard des Capucines in Paris.

1981 - In USA, In vitro (In glass) fertilization was successful and first baby Elizabeth Jordan Carr was born. Even though the first test tube baby was born in UK, its success in various countries and cultures is important historical landmark for the procedure to spread quickly and help more people.http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1228.html#article

2005 - Galileo satellite launched by European consortium.

Birthdays

1908 - John Von Neumann
John von Neumann is born in Budapest, Hungary. He obtained a degree in chemical engineering. Von Neumann developed the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) computer while at Princeton. The IAS computer and its “von Neumann architecture,” served as the model for a number of computers built at governmental and scientific institutions. Von Neumann architecture standardized the way programs and data were stored in a computer’s common memory.http://www.computerhistory.org/tdih/December/28/

Semi-Professional Blogging

There are more than 200 million blogs and bloggers out in the Blogosphere. The digital media and the development of blogging platforms made it easy for many people to share their knowledge and creative writing with the society at large. In that attempt to share their knowledge with people, an opportunity to make money is created through online advertising. While Google Adsense is the leading online advertising platform, there are many more. So, many can try to make money through semi-professional blogging or part-time blogging.

Successful Semi-Professional Blogging

We can say a successful semi-professional blogger makes $1000 a month and spends two hours a day on blogging. A professional blogger status comes when one starts making $2000 a month in USA. In a country like India, professional blogger status can be given even at $300 per month.

Is it possible to earn $1000 a month from blogging? Yes.

Are there persons making this sort of money? Yes, there are many. May be 500,000+ persons.

Are there any persons publicly declaring that they are making $1000+ per month?

There are many. When you come across a claim, just check the Alexa rank of their site or blog. If it is above 500,000 you can certainly believe them. Many have multiple blogs and sites. So a blogger or webmaster with at least one blog above One million Alexa rank can make $1000 per month. I am giving below some references of the claims by bloggers. I am including only those persons whose blogs have good Alexa ranks.

What can be the plan?

Plan for 250 posts a year. Each post on an average needs to get 10,000 page views per annum.
It will give you 2,500,000 page views. This means 208,000 page views per month. If one can monetize this visitors and page view numbers at $5 per thousand $1000 income per month will come.

Is it possible at monetize a blog at that income level ($5 per thousand). Yes.

See this exhibit. A blogger who monetized his huge 13 million page views at $9.87 per thousand. So monetizing at $5 cpm is more realistic. Of course it is not easy or simple. You have to become skilled at it. Have I done it? No. I am yet to do it. I am still spending time in time creating content or in protecting content that I developed on Knol. But the opportunity is to be recognized. Only when you recognize an opportunity and you feel, you can take the benefit of it, that you will make serious efforts to understand it and then learn the skills needed to actually benefit from it.

Blogging is writing, selling and monetizing combined. An independent blogger is a sole proprietor business man. He needs information gathering and writing skills. He needs to sell his articles through his online and offline efforts. Then when people are coming and reading his articles, he needs to sell his media space through advertisements and affiliate sales programs (Five Roles of Blogger - Article by Steve Spaulding).

I would not advise people to look at $5 per 1000 monetization. But may be $2 per 1000 monetization. That means you need 500,000 page views per month. Yes there are bloggers getting these page view numbers (500,000+) and I advise aspiring people to target this. This figure one can achieve in two years time.

Don't look for success and money from the first day. Give your self a year to find out whether you have the foundation skill of writing good popular articles. Then get into serious promotion activities. Then only serious monetization. Concentrate first on writing. Learn researching available materials and writing. Learn interviewing people and writing. Learn online content promotion. Then concentrate on monetization. There are many articles out in blogosphere to give you information about each of the stages. There are coaches also. Probably once you start making reasonable money, you will feel confident about paying something to these coaches and learn from them. External support is always useful in the long run. When you are making decent money, you would not mind paying some to increase your potential and understanding. If there are 500,000+ income earning bloggers, there will be coaches and consultants to support them.

Every manager must come out with business ideas every year. He has to assure himself and his department colleagues that there is sufficient business for them in the coming year. It means business and management students have to learn how to identify business opportunities and do feasibility analysis.

Market-leading ADVERTISING, PROMOTION, AND OTHER ASPECTS OF INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS, 9th Edition discusses all aspects of marketing communications, from time-honored methods to the newest developments in the field. Comprehensive treatment of the fundamentals focuses on advertising and promotion, including planning, branding, media buying, sales, public relations, and much more. Emerging topics get special attention in this edition, such as the enormous popularity of social media outlets, online and digital practices, viral communications, and personal selling, along with all of their effects on traditional marketing. Revised to make ADVERTISING, PROMOTION, AND OTHER ASPECTS OF INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS, 9th Edition the most current I.M.C. text on the market, chapters address must-know changes to environmental, regulatory, and ethical issues, as well as Marcom insights, place-based applications, privacy, global marketing, and of course, memorable advertising campaigns.

PART II: FUNDAMENTAL I.M.C. PLANNING BACKGROUND AND DECISIONS.
5. Segmentation and Targeting in I.M.C.
6. The Communications Process and Consumer Behavior.
7. The Role of Persuasion in I.M.C.
8. I.M.C. Objective Setting and Budgeting.

1865 - BASF was founded on 6 April 1865 in Mannheim, in the German-speaking country of Baden by Friedrich Engelhorn. BASF SE is the largest chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF originally stood for Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik (English: Baden Aniline and Soda Factory).

Monday, December 8, 2014

The company announced its anniversary program in an international press conference held today in Ludwigshafen. In addition to celebrations and a historical retrospective, BASF has prepared a global co-creation program with partners on the topics of energy, food and urban living. As part of this program, called Creator SpaceTM, BASF is taking a new approach in accordance with its “We create chemistry” strategy.
“We want to initiate something new with our anniversary and try out new ways of working together over the next year – both within BASF and with people outside the company. We see the Creator Space program as a great opportunity to bring BASF closer to our target groups,” said Dr. Kurt Bock, Chairman of BASF’s Board of Executive Directors.

BASF’s official anniversary event with invited guests will take place on April 23, 2015, in Ludwigshafen. A special highlight will be the premiere of the anniversary musical composition, “Sounds for 150,” for which employees worldwide recorded more than 1,200 typical BASF sounds. The composer is Michael Nyman. BASF sites around the world are celebrating the 150th anniversary, each in a different way, according to their respective size and culture.

From Ludwigshafen into the world

BASF’s history started in 1865 with dyes. Ammonia production followed a few years later in order to make fertilizer. Then, plastics came along. Since then the company’s portfolio has continuously developed and today it ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection to oil and gas. BASF supplies customers in nearly every industry with products and solutions and supports them with research and innovations. “Being successful for so many years speaks for the creativity and determination of BASF’s employees – past and present,” said Bock.

BASF has operated internationally since its beginnings. Shortly after it was founded, BASF was selling its dyes worldwide. In 1885, BASF sent a manager to China with the aim of seeking opportunities for the company. “At the time, China was a new market on a largely unknown continent. There was real pioneer work to be done. Today, we are the largest foreign chemical investor in China,” said Dr. Martin Brudermüller, Vice Chairman of BASF’s Board of Executive Directors.

BASF’s history in China has been compiled for its anniversary in a book titled “Breaking New Ground.” The book was written by Michael Grabicki, the longtime head of BASF’s media relations team, and will be published in English, German and Chinese.

Creator SpaceTM program is a key element of the anniversary

In 2050, the world’s population will reach nine billion. 70% of the people will live in cities. A company that works on a global scale has to look at issues from the perspectives of different markets and understand local requirements. What will the cities of the future look like? Where will the energy that is needed come from? How can there be enough healthy food for everyone? The answers to these questions will be quite different from region to region.

The Creator Space program unlocks numerous opportunities to think about challenges related to the focus topics energy, food and urban living and to work towards solutions, both virtually and in person. “We are convinced that when we add the expertise from chemistry and other industries to these ideas, we will be closer to finding answers for the challenges of today and tomorrow. For society, these are solutions. For BASF, these are business opportunities. The better we understand market needs, the better our innovations will be – regardless of whether we’re talking about products, entire systems or new business models,” said Bock.

The website Creator Space online went live in September 2014. More than 2,000 participants are currently exchanging ideas in real-time on the three anniversary topics: urban living, energy, and food. The ideas and solutions from Creator Space online will be fed into other anniversary activities such as the Creator Space tour. Brudermüller: “The tour is about personal exchange in an environment that motivates creativity and an urge to design the future. Employees, customers, scientists, politicians and NGO representatives will all have the opportunity to get involved with the anniversary topics.”

The 2015 tour will stop for one week each in six cities: in January in Mumbai, and then in Shanghai, New York, São Paulo, Barcelona and Ludwigshafen. It provides space for workshops, conferences, idea competitions and cultural events. Each stop concentrates on one challenge that is particularly important for that city or country.

As part of the Creator Space program, BASF is also planning three high-level science symposia – in Ludwigshafen, Chicago and Shanghai. Renowned scientists from various disciplines will meet at each event. Among them are Nobel prize winners including the physicist and energy politician Steven Chu, the chemist Jean-Marie Lehn, and Frances Arnold, the pioneer of evolution in a test tube. In total, discussions with more than 1,500 guests from science, politics and industry will take place.

A documentary film spanning the entire anniversary year will be produced to capture some of the most interesting, beautiful and emotional moments. The prize-winning director, Thomas Grube, will accompany the anniversary activities. The film will be available in April 2016. Before that, clips can be viewed on
www.creator-space.basf.com.

BASF - Current Activities

At BASF, we create chemistry – and have been doing so for 150 years. Our portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. As the world’s leading chemical company, we combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through science and innovation, we enable our customers in nearly every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF had sales of about €74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.

BASF is introducing a new claim “We create chemistry” in its logo. This change to the company’s brand identity underlines how BASF collaborates and innovates with customers and partners to contribute to a sustainable future. The new claim is derived from BASF’s “We create chemistry” strategy, which was announced in 2011. “Since we launched this strategy, BASF has been increasingly focusing on offering its customers functionalized products and solutions based on chemistry as a clever combination of compounds. It is therefore the right time to make the next step and move from ‘The Chemical Company’ to ‘We create chemistry.’ The new claim refers not only to science but also to the chemistry between people, which is at the core of BASF and its brand,” explained Dr. Kurt Bock, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF.

Initially, “We create chemistry” will mainly be used in the logo in circumstances directly related to the company’s 150th anniversary. As of January 1, 2015, it will be applied broadly throughout BASF. The other elements of BASF’s corporate design, for example the six corporate colors, will remain unchanged.
In accordance with its company purpose “We create chemistry for a sustainable future,” BASF’s goal is to bring together people and ideas in a process of co-creation. BASF is inviting people to collaborate on developing solutions to global challenges related to urban living, smart energy and food throughout the anniversary year. To spark the discussion, the company has launched an interactive platform called Creator Space™ online at www.creator-space.basf.com. Here, customers, scientists, the public and BASF experts are invited to exchange thoughts and ideas.

In 2015, insights from the online conversation will form the basis for discussions at numerous live and virtual co-creation events around the world. The aim is to use the anniversary year to drive innovation and make a lasting contribution to society and BASF’s business.

“Our 150-year history shows that chemistry is an enabler for new ideas and solutions. Innovation in the 21st century will require new strategies and tools, and social networks are an important part of the mix. We invite everyone to join the conversation on Creator Space online,” said Bock.

Anniversary discussions focus on three topics
By 2050, there will be more than nine billion people living on Earth. The needs of the growing world population for good living conditions, energy and food can only be met through innovations. BASF has identified three topics where chemistry plays an important role that will form the focus of the anniversary program:

-Urban living: It is estimated that more than 70% of the world population will be urban dwellers by 2050. As cities grow rapidly, so do the social, environmental and economic challenges, for example, in ensuring fresh water supply, improving waste management as well as offering efficient and accessible mobility and housing.
-Smart energy: Dramatically rising energy demand is one of the world’s most pressing challenges. A smarter energy future requires deriving more cost-efficient energy from clean and renewable resources like wind and solar, increasing energy efficiency and improving the storage and transportation of energy.

-Food: The challenge of feeding the world’s growing population by providing a sustainable supply of food is one of the most crucial in the next decades. Avoiding food loss and food waste, ensuring nutritious food and improving the efficiency of food production is necessary to prevent undernutrition and malnutrition.

Further details of the anniversary program will be announced at a press conference on December 4, 2014, and then there will be regular updates on all activities on Creator Space online. One highlight of the year will be the Anniversary Celebration in Ludwigshafen on April 23, 2015.